I’m not one for much sappy romantic love, never really have been. But my husband? He writes me poems, it’s so sweet and endearing. He wrote me poems on our wedding day, and sometimes I’ll wake up to find a little note that he composed professing his love for me.
Me? I request that we open up our bottle of Batard-Montrachet, and cozy up together with some homemade dinner (I seriously don’t even know what I’m going to make yet – roast chicken perhaps?) watching tv while baby girl babbles along telling the world stories about who knows what with her entire vocal repertoire of some five syllables. Maybe I’ll make another batch of hot chocolate for dessert, or maybe I’ll get ambitious and go for a little chocolate soufflé. All I know is, there will be chocolate, because that’s how I say, “I love you forveer.”
Are you up for some ideas of a few Valentine’s temptations? 
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Let’s talk about quinoa.
Quinoa is a gluten free miracle “grain” and nutritional superfood that has garnered much attention lately – recently society has pretty much moved on from asking how to pronounce it (keen-wa or keen-oh-a?) to instead asking how to actually cook it. Everywhere I look I see people singing its praises as we happily pay for a box of the pseudocereal’s protein packed seeds to use in place of more traditional grains that are off limits to gluten free folk. Personally, I’ve never been a total convert. I don’t mind quinoa, and think it’s very well suited to certain types of dishes, but I don’t jump up and down shouting from the rooftops about how amazing it is. All the acclaim for its health benefits keep me buying it (just like I buy carrots and kale even though I despise them), hoping one day I’ll find that dish that lets me truly fall in love.
But quinoa’s story is more complex than it may at first seem. Quinoa, a plant more closely related to beets and spinach than wheat, originates in the Andes mountains of South America – Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile. Due to its long history as an integral part of the Andean food culture, deemed the “mother grain” by the Inca, today it is considered one of the “ancient grains” (other gluten free ancient grains include amaranth, millet, buckwheat, sorghum, chia and teff, even though not all these are technically grains, but some are also seeds like quinoa). Quinoa outlived the Incan empire and survived the Spanish conquistadors, and today is an important crop for several populations in the Andes, where it stayed relatively unknown to the rest of the world until quite recently.
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Creamy cauliflower soup by EA Stewart
Wow can you believe that we have come full circle, onto a year of naturally gluten free links?? Last time, in December, I asked all of you what you thought of the series, and got an overwhelming response wishing me to continue with it – so here is to another year of discovering some tasty naturally gluten free recipes to offer up flavor and variety without ever having to find some exotic flour or weird random gluten substitute 
In case you are new to the series, last year in January of 2012 I started Naturally Gluten Free Links, because while it seems that the general consensus is that already gluten free foods are easy to find and thus most people are only looking for baked goods, etc. that utilize gluten substitutes, I find it refreshing to discover new and exciting ways to use foods to create dishes that are naturally gluten free. In the past year my husband and I have significantly increased our cooking repertoire after finding new and creative soups, salads, meat and seafood dishes, and even several gorgeous desserts that did not require any special flour mixes. I think to approach gluten free as a lifestyle rather than a diet restriction it is important to embrace and celebrate those dishes that already are ok for a GF person to eat – one where no alterations or special accommodations need to be made, and everyone can enjoy.
So let’s hear it for this great selection ringing in the new year! As always, while the bloggers listed here may not necessarily be gluten free, these particular recipes are – and as per usual, it is important nevertheless to always always always read labels on all goods purchased and/or inquire with the manufacturer and your personal care physician as to the suitability of ingredients for your body. But enough with disclaimers, onto the list!
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I had a post all ready in my mind for the past couple weeks on this quinoa salad I made, our relationship with quinoa, and the effects of its globalization. It’s a complex issue especially for us gluten free folk who often laud quinoa as the “miracle ‘grain’” for its nutritive value and just the fact that it’s one of the few starches that is naturally ok for GF people to eat. But that will have to wait a bit. Actually I’ve had (and still have!) a lot to say the past few weeks that I haven’t been able to type in this space, and I hope you can muster a little more patience for me. Julia Child once said that no matter what happens in the kitchen, one should never apologize and this blog is a virtual extension of my kitchen, so I am doing my best to refrain from actually apologizing for not posting. So why the all the pleas and protestations for time?
You see, last month I learned first-hand the perils of baby fingernails. Babies don’t have the same sense of the “bubble of space” as adults do, and even though we do our best to keep baby girl’s nails short and trim, one evening as I had just picked her up from a nap, she turned quickly and promptly poked her finger in my eye, scratching my cornea. After various hospital trips, etc. I got to be a pirate for a few days with the ever attractive gauze patch taped over my face, and slowly things improved and by about a week later I wasn’t in pain anymore. We decided to commence with our Christmas plans, and enjoyed a lovely week up in the mountains watching for Santa.
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This post was years in the making. YEARS. You see, once a long time ago, when my husband first figured out that I could make food he liked (this was before we were engaged), I had asked him what he wanted me to make him. ”A coconut cream pie,” he said, “it’s my favorite type of pie.” And yet, as simple as it would be to just bake one pie, whenever I thought of making a coconut cream pie, I just couldn’t muster the motivation to do it. Opportunity after opportunity went by, and I just could not get in the mood to make this pie. In fact, after enough time had passed it became a running joke between us, the pie that never would be.
And now here we are, a good five years later, halfway across the world, parents, and I still had yet to make him his coconut cream pie. I don’t know what struck me over the holiday but out of the blue, I just decided I would do it. Why not? What was I holding on to by not making this? The fear that I would disappoint him in his favorite type of pie ever? No, he’s pretty amenable to most everything I cook. Maybe it was just the finality of it, that after all this time there’s now been so much expectation that it will seem a bit anticlimactic if it’s not the absolute awesomest coconut cream pie in the world.
Last weekend I decided that I might as well give it a go at this point – I mean it’s been five years, it’s about time I finally give the man his dessert
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Quinoa with squash and pomegranate by Brian of A Thought for Food (used with permission)
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a full year of naturally gluten free links! I hope you have all enjoyed this series, and that it has given you several ideas for some great ways to prepare naturally gluten free dishes without having to worry about substitutions, elusive alternative ingredients etc. I know it has been inspiring for me to see just how many different types of food are already gluten free, even though my family has been GF for years now. To close out this year, we have a couple great looking recipes to share – warm squashes, lots of quinoa, rich chocolate, and some great photos as well.
Hope you had as much fun with this series as I did! Would you like it to continue into 2013, or have you been sufficiently inspired?? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and hope you have a wonderful New Year’s!
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